Urban African Canadians: A Qualitative Study of Serious Legal Problems in Quebec

Methodology

Each participant was asked to respond to a series of questions that were based on, but not restricted to, the guidelines provided by Justice Canada. These questions, and the study in general, complement Justice Canada’s forthcoming quantitative-based Canadian Legal Problems Survey. The questions were designed to encourage each participant to speak freely and openly about the specific legal problems that they have experienced. The team also wanted to capture their understanding of how and why they experienced these legal problems. This approach is rooted in the idea that people express their understanding of social phenomena in both explicit and conscious, and implicit and unconscious ways; and that they possess an understanding of and can express their experience in relation to the society and world that they inhabit, prompted, but not guided, by the interviewer (Forget and Paillé 2012, 72–3, 79). Although it is obvious that race and the existence of racism is an underlying assumption in the research, the team wanted respondents to discuss their experience without being prompted to discuss it solely in racial terms. The hope was that, where relevant, they might identify the intersections between race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, and other forms of identity.

To maintain confidentiality, each participant was given a pseudonym and, in drafting the report, every effort was made to remove specific details that would compromise the identity of the participants. Notes were taken during the interviews and the audio of the interviews was recorded. Summaries were then made of each interview, which were coded, then matched to establish recurring themes and ideas. The themes identified include legal problems related to: